A-N-N-O-U-N-C-E !!! MDI support library QextMDI 0.1 out now!!!

[Falk Brettschneider]

Hi Qt-programmers,

This is an  A-N-N-O-U-N-C-E  email!!!
================================================================
QextMDI library version 0.1 (alpha) is out now!!!
================================================================
Now Qt programmers can easily create MDI applications using this
library for free!!!
================================================================
DOWNLOAD:
unix users:  http://www.geocities.com/gigafalk/qextmdi-0.1.tgz
win32 users: http://www.geocities.com/gigafalk/qextmdi-0.1.zip
================================================================

What is QextMDI?
================
- C++ GUI library extending Troll Tech´s Qt
- Because it only depends on Qt2.00 it works on all systems supported by
Qt

- programmed by Falk Brettschneider (gigafalk at geocities.com) in 1999
- based on the MDI system belonging to kvirc, an Internet Relay Chat
  application of Szymon Stefanek (stefanek at tin.it)

- gives Qt programmers the ability to create "MDI" applications
- consists of a set of C++ classes linked to a dynamic runtime library
and
  you can use these classes in your project to get MDI look and style.
- is under the LGPL (see the license), which means you can use it under
this 
  license and you can take part on its development, change and improve
it.
- qextmdi means: 
    Qt-extension for MDI

What means MDI here?
====================
- actually: "Multi Document Interface"
- an expression coming from Microsoft's MFC programming world
- means actually to have several data structures including the
possiblity
  to have multiple views on each data structure. But it includes
automatically
  a special GUI style:
  - one application mainframe (the one and only application toplevel
widget)
  - several child frames, each one capsulates a view on any data
  - child frames are like toplevel widgets but are clipped by its
mainframe

- QextMDI provides only the look'n'style of those MDI applications
- QextMDI improves the possiblilies of common MDI. Additionally you can:
  - have a taskbar providing a button for every child frame widget
  - undock child frame widgets and make them to toplevel widgets (Unix
style)
  - dock the undocked child frames in the application main frame
(MSWindows style)


Using QextMDI in your Qt project
================================
- Read the html files in './doc' what the C++ classes are and how they
work.
  (Not finished yet ´because it´s Alpha, translations and support are
welcome!)
- You must include the header directory of QextMDI (placed in
'./include') 
  in your project
- You must link your application/library with libqextmdi.so
- For instance you can have a look at the example application!



Version
=======
- Currently it is version 0.1, Alpha stage
- That means it is not finished, errors can appear, functionallity may
be missed,
  things might be completly changed in further versions, interfaces and
headers are
  not thought to be final.



Feedback
========
- I would welcome some people who want to help to improve this project!
- Suggestions, comments are also welcome.
- Contact: gigafalk at geocities.com



Keep the idea of 
taking the best of both worlds!

Falk Brettschneider                             Dresden, 22/Sep/1999
(http://www.geocities.com/gigafalk)